What if Walt Disney was the producer of Looney Tunes/Walt Disney Animated Classics/Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a 1973 American animated musical comedy-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions which was first released in the United States on November 8, 1973. The 26th Disney animated feature film, it is based on the legend of Robin Hood, but uses anthropomorphic animals rather than people. The story follows the adventures of Robin Hood and Little John as they fight against the excessive taxation of Prince John, and Robin Hood wins the hand of Maid Marian. The idea to adapt Robin Hood into an animated feature dated back to Walt Disney's interest in the tale of Reynard the Fox during production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The idea was repeatedly shelved until writer and production designer Ken Anderson incorporated ideas from it in a pitch of the legend of Robin Hood using anthropomorphic animals rather than people during production of The Aristocats (1970), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlotte's Web (1973). Due to casting changes and using experimental locations, production on the film fell behind schedule in which the animators had to recycle several dance sequences from previous Disney animated features in order to meet its deadline. Robin Hood was released on November 8, 1973 where it was initially received with positive reviews from film critics who praised the voice cast, animation, and humor, but its reception became gradually mixed since its release. During its initial theatrical run, the film was a box office success. Despite the aforementioned mixed reviews, the film has became a cult classic and was also one of Walt Disney's personal favorite films. Plot A minstrel rooster named Alan-a-Dale introduces the story of Robin Hood and Little John, two outlaws living in Sherwood Forest, where they rob from the rich and give to the poor townsfolk of Nottingham, despite the efforts of the Sheriff of Nottingham to stop them. Meanwhile, Prince John and his assistant/pet snake Sir Hiss arrive in Nottingham on a tour of the kingdom. Knowing the royal coach is laden with riches, Robin and Little John rob Prince John by disguising themselves as fortune tellers. The embarrassed Prince John then puts a bounty on their heads and makes the Sheriff his personal tax collector, who takes pleasure in collecting funds from the townsfolk including hidden money from the crippled blacksmith Otto and a single farthing from a young rabbit, Skippy, who had just received it as a birthday present. However, Robin Hood, disguised as a beggar, sneaks in and gives back some money to the family, as well as his hat and a bow to Skippy in honor of his birthday. Skippy and his friends test out the bow, but Skippy fires an arrow into the grounds of Maid Marian's castle. The children sneak inside, meeting Maid Marian and her attendant Lady Kluck. Skippy "rescues" Marian from Lady Kluck, who pretends to be a pompous Prince John. Later, when she is alone with Kluck, Maid Marian reveals she and Robin were childhood sweethearts but they have not seen one another for years, and Kluck consoles her not to give up on her love for Robin. Meanwhile, Friar Tuck, an old friend of Robin's, visits Robin and Little John, explaining that Prince John is hosting an archery tournament, and the winner will receive a kiss from Maid Marian. Robin decides to participate in the tournament disguised as a stork whilst Little John disguises himself as the Duke of Chutney to get near Prince John. Sir Hiss discovers Robin's identity but is trapped in a barrel of ale by Friar Tuck. Robin wins the tournament, but Prince John exposes him and has him arrested for execution despite Maid Marian's pleas. Little John threatens Prince John in order to release Robin, which leads to a fight between Prince John's soldiers and the townsfolk, all of which escape to Sherwood Forest. As Robin and Maid Marian fall in love again, the townsfolk have a troubadour festival spoofing Prince John, describing him as the "Phony King of England", and the song soon becomes popular with John's soldiers. Enraged by the insult, Prince John triples the taxes, imprisoning most of the townsfolk who cannot pay (including Alan-a-Dale). A paltry coin gets deposited into the poor box at Friar Tuck's church, which gets seized by the Sheriff. Enraged that government has meddled in his church, Friar Tuck lashes out at the Sheriff, to which he is quickly arrested for "attacking a lawman, interfering with the Sheriff's legal duties and high treason to the Crown". Prince John, Sir Hiss and the Sheriff learn to their dismay that King Richard, John's brother and the rightful King of England, is returning from the Crusades much earlier than anticipated. Prince John then decides ordering Friar Tuck hung, knowing Robin Hood will come out of hiding to rescue his friend and give the potential for Robin to be caught and a "double hanging". Robin and Little John, having learned of the plot, chose to sneak in during the night, with Little John managing to free Friar Tuck and all of the other prisoners whilst Robin steals Prince John's taxes, but Sir Hiss awakens to find Robin fleeing. Chaos follows as Robin and the others try to escape to Sherwood Forest. The Sheriff corners Robin after he is forced to return to rescue Tagalong, Skippy's little sister. During the chase, Prince John's castle catches fire and the Sheriff figures he has Robin where he wants, either to be captured, burned, or make a risky jump into the moat. Robin Hood elects to jump. As Prince John and his soldiers head out to pursue him, Robin, who was wounded during his escape (presumably by one of the arrows shot into the water after him), gets rescued by Little John, who takes him to the church to have his wounds treated by Maid Marian. Sir Hiss spots the drops of blood left by Robin and he and Prince John follow the trail leading to the church. Seeing Little John leaving the church, Prince John figures that Robin Hood is also there, and probably alone. Entering the church, Prince John approaches Maid Marian and an unconscious Robin. He offers to "put Robin out of his misery" while drawing a dagger out of his cloak. Maid Marian bravely tells him to not come any closer and that he's not the king, to which Prince John retorts that no one gives orders to "King John". Suddenly, King Richard appears, much to Maid Marian's delight and Prince John's horror. King Richard, even though Prince John deserves it for leaving the people oppressed and using the crown for his own selfish interests, decides he cannot banish him because it would upset their mother, but he has a more severe punishment in mind. Some time later, King Richard returns Nottingham to its rightful glory, places his brother, Sir Hiss and the Sheriff under arrest, knights Robin Hood as "Sir Robin of Locksley" and orders Friar Tuck to marry Robin and Maid Marian, turning the former outlaw into an in-law. Voice cast * Brian Bedford as Robin Hood (a fox) * Monica Evans as Maid Marian (a vixen) * Phil Harris as Little John (a bear) * Andy Devine as Friar Tuck (a badger) * Peter Ustinov as Prince John and King Richard (lions) * Terry-Thomas as Sir Hiss (a snake) * Pat Buttram as The Sheriff of Nottingham (a wolf) * Carole Shelley as Lady Kluck (a chicken) * George Lindsey and Ken Curtis as Trigger and Nutsy, respectively (vultures) * Mel Blanc, Don Messick and Richard McGonagle as Tin, Pan and Alley, respectively (siamese cats) * John Fiedler and Barbara Luddy as Friar Tuck's Sexton and his wife, respectively (church mice) * Billy Whitaker, Dana Laurita and Dori Whitaker as Skippy, Sis, and Tagalong, respectively (rabbits) * Richie Sanders as Toby (a turtle) * Barbara Luddy as Mother Rabbit (a rabbit) * Candy Candido as the Captain of the Guard (a crocodile) * J. Pat O'Malley as Otto (a dog) * Roger Miller as Alan-a-Dale (a rooster) Production Around the time of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Walt Disney became interested in adapting the twelfth-century stories of Reynard the Fox. However, the project languished due to Walt's concern that Reynard was an unsuitable choice for a hero. In a meeting held on February 12, 1938, Disney commented "I see swell possibilities in 'Reynard', but is it smart to make it? We have such a terrific kid audience...parents and kids together. That's the trouble – too sophisticated. We'll take a nosedive doing it with animals." For Treasure Island, Walt seriously considered three animated sections, each one of the Reynard tales, to be told by Long John Silver to Jim Hawkins as moral fables. Ultimately, the idea was nixed as Treasure Island would become the studio's first fully live-action film. Over the years, the studio decided to make Reynard into the villain of a musical feature film named Chanticleer (based on Edmond Rostand's play of the same name) but production was scrapped in the early 1960s, in favor of The Sword in the Stone (1963), although Chanticleer would be retooled several years later as Rock-a-Doodle. While The Aristocats, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlotte's Web were in production, Ken Anderson began exploring possibilities for the next film. Walt favored a "classic" tale as the subject for the next film, in which Anderson suggested an all-animal version of the stories of Robin Hood, which was received enthusiastically. He blended his ideas of Robin Hood by incorporating that an fox could be slick but still use his skills to protect the community. Additionally, Anderson wanted to set the film in the Deep South desiring to recapture the spirit of Song of the South. However, Walt was wary of the reputation of Song of the South which was followed by Wolfgang Reitherman's decision to set the film in its traditional English location inspired by The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men. Veteran writer Larry Clemmons came on board the project by writing a script with dialogue that was later storyboarded by other writers. As production went further along, Robin Allan wrote in his book Walt Disney and Europe, that "Ken Anderson wept when he saw how his character concepts had been processed into stereotypes for the animation on Robin Hood." According to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, one such casualty was the concept of making the Sheriff of Nottingham a goat as an artistic experiment to try different animals for a villain, only to be overruled by Walt who wanted to keep to the villainous stereotype of a wolf instead. Additionally, Anderson wanted to include the Merry Men into the film, which was overridden by Reitherman because he wanted a "buddy picture" reminiscent of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so Little John was the only Merry Man who remained in the film, while Friar Tuck was reworked as a friend of Robin's who lived in Nottingham, and Alan-a-Dale was turned into the narrator. Because of the time spent on developing several settings and auditioning actors to voice Robin Hood, production fell behind schedule. In order to meet its deadline, the animators decided to recycle dance sequences from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book, and The Aristocats. Casting By October 1970, most of the voice actors were confirmed, with the exception of Tommy Steele cast in the title role. Steele himself was chosen because of his performance in The Happiest Millionaire while Peter Ustinov was cast because Walt Disney enjoyed his presence on the set of Blackbeard's Ghost. However, Steele was unable to make his character sound more heroic, and his replacement came down to final two candidates which were Bernard Fox and Brian Bedford, with the latter being chosen. Meanwhile, Louis Prima was so angered by not being considered for a role that he personally paid the recording expenses for the subsequent album, Let's "Hear" it For Robin Hood, which he sold to Disneyland Records. Release The film premiered at the Radio City Music Hall on November 9, 1973. The film was re-released on March 26, 1982. It was released on VHS, CED, Betamax, and Laserdisc on December 4, 1984 becoming the first installment of the Walt Disney Classics home video label. Walt Disney had thought the idea of releasing any of his animated classics (known as the "untouchables") might threaten future theatrical reissue revenue. However, Robin Hood was viewed as the first choice since it was not held in such high esteem as some of the other titles, and was less likely to get another theatrical release as its 1982 reissue wasn't as successful like its original release. The release went into moratorium in January 1987. It was later re-released on VHS as an installment of the Walt Disney Classics on July 12, 1991. The film was re-released on October 28, 1994 and July 13, 1999 on VHS as an installment of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection lineup. In January 2000, Walt Disney Home Video launched the Gold Classic Collection, with Robin Hood re-issued on VHS and DVD on July 4, 2000. The DVD contained the film in its 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and was accompanied with special features including a trivia game and the Looney Tunes shorts "Ye Olden Days", "Rabbit Hood", "Robin Hood Daffy" and "Robin Hoodwinked". The remastered "Most Wanted Edition" DVD ("Special Edition" in the UK) was released in 2006 and featured a 16:9 matted transfer to represent its original theatrical screen ratio. On August 6, 2013, the film was released as the 40th Anniversary Edition on a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack. Reception Box office In its initial release, Robin Hood grossed $9 million in the United States. However, it has been reported that the film grossed $35 million during its initial release. Critical reception Judith Crist, reviewing the film in the New York magazine, said it was "nicely tongue-in-cheek without insult to the intelligence of either child or adult." She also stated that it "has class – in the fine cast that gives both voice and personality to the characters, in the bright and brisk dialogue, in its overall concept." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that it "should ... be a good deal of fun for toddlers whose minds have not yet shriveled into orthodoxy" and he called the visual style "charmingly conventional". Dave Billington of The Montreal Gazette wrote "As a film, Robin Hood marks a comeback of sorts for the Disney people. Ever since the old maestro died, the cartoon features have shown distressing signs of a drop in quality, both in art work and in voice characterization. But the blending of appealing cartoon animals with perfect voices for the part makes Robin Hood an excellent evening out for the whole family." Also writing in the New York magazine, Ruth Gilbert called it "a sweet, funny, slam-bang, good-hearted Walt Disney feature cartoon with a fine cast" and wrote it was "a feast for the eyes for kiddies and Disney nostalgics." Jay Cocks of Time gave the film a mixed review writing "Even at its best, Robin Hood is only mildly diverting. There is not a single moment of the hilarity or deep, eerie fear that the Disney people used to be able to conjure up, or of the sort of visual invention that made the early features so memorable. Robin Hood's basic problem is that it is rather too pretty and good natured." Awarding the film four stars out of five, Ian Nathan, in a contemporary review for Empire, praised the vocal performances of Peter Ustinov and Terry-Thomas acknowledging "while this is hardly the most dazzling of animated features, it has that cut-corner feel that seem to hold sway in the '70s (mainly because Disney were cutting corners), the characters spark to life, and the story remains as rock steady as ever." Decades since the film's release, the film was heavily noted for the recycled scenes of animation. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received a 52% approval rating with an average rating of 5.4/10 based on 25 reviews. The website's consensus states that "One of the weaker Disney adaptations, Robin Hood is cute and colorful but lacks the majesty and excitement of the studio's earlier efforts." Trivia * Initially, the studio considered a movie about Reynard the Fox (which had previously been made as a stop-motion film in 1937 by pioneering French filmmaker, Ladislas Starevich). However, due to Walt Disney's concern that Reynard was an unsuitable choice for a hero, Ken Anderson used many elements from it in Robin Hood. * Walt Disney had considered Robin Hood as one of his best films in the 1970s. * Director Byron Howard has stated that the creation of Zootopia was the thought of creating a modern Robin Hood movie with modern CG technology. * The voices of Mother Rabbit, Mother Mouse and Father Mouse would be cast in the roles of Kanga and Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. * Peter Ustinov grew famous playing over-the-top villains. His campy, spoiled, and thoroughly weak-willed portrayal of Prince John is an effective caricature of his own performance as the Roman emperor Nero in the epic film Quo Vadis (1951). * Phil Harris and Andy Devine had both appeared on The Jack Benny Program. * Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Trigger, Prince John, and the Sheriff of Nottingham appear at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as meetable characters. * This is a unique version of Robin Hood that gives Prince John the place of the main villain instead of the Sheriff of Nottingham. * The film marks the debut appearances of the siamese cat trio Tin, Pan and Alley, who would appear in later Disney animated films. * The mice bear an almost identical resemblance to Roquefort in The Aristocats. * John endlessly sulks over his mother's preference for his brother, a grudge marked by thumb-sucking and the reversion to an infantile state. At one point the behavior culminates in the complaint "Mother always did like Richard best." This is a sly reference to a classic comedy routine by the Smothers Brothers, in which Tom Smothers would bewail the maternal favoritism shown to Dick Smothers. ("Dick" is a common nickname for Richard.) In the historical play and film The Lion in Winter, Richard is indeed shown as being the favorite of their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, while John is the favored son of their father, King Henry II. * The church bell on Friar Tuck's church is an actual bell, filmed and added in post-production. * Friar Tuck was originally envisioned as a pig but was changed to a badger to avoid offending religious sensitivities. * Peter Ustinov lent his voice to both the original English-speaking Prince John and Prince John in the German dubbed version of the movie. Although Ustinov also voiced King Richard in the English version, he doesn't do that character's German voice. * Phil Harris's voice as Little John is virtually identical to the voice he used for the character Baloo in Disney's The Jungle Book. Both characters were bears and looked generally similar except for their color. * In the jailbreak scene, "God forgive Prince John" is written on the wall when Little John and Friar Tuck enter. Preceding this, in Friar Tuck's cell, the words "Forgive them all" is carved in the wall to the right of Friar Tuck. * In one scene of the film, where Kluck is fighting the men of Prince John, the University of Wisconsin fight song, "On Wisconsin," is played. * Nancy Adams, who sang "Love" as Maid Marian's singing voice, was the wife of one of its songwriters, Floyd Huddleston. The song was later featured in the 2009 stop-motion animated film version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. * The film is referenced in Mel Brooks' 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights. * Jim Henson's Labyrinth contains a pan-shot of Sarah's book collection, including a book version of Robin Hood with the title character pictured on the front cover. * The theme song for the film played during a T-Mobile commercial during the 2014 Super Bowl. * This is one of the Disney animated films to have no humans (not counting the opening sequence showing artwork of the human equivalents in a book). * Assistant animator (at the time) Floyd Norman admitted on one of his Facebook photos that he personally hated the character Skippy because of his "obnoxious brat" personality.